Machine for brazing seams



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I F MATTHYSSE ET AL MACHINE FOR BRAZING SEAMS & E m m May 27, 1958Original Filed Aug. 5, 1947 y 7, 1958 I. F. MATTHYSSE ETAL 2,836,138

' MACHINE FOR BRAZING SEAMS 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS li'Maiih sse VPelie,"

.9 m5 lan x l I n I l l 1 Original Filed Aug, 5, 1947 May 27, '1958 1.F. MATTHYSSE ET AL MACHINE FOR BRAZING SEAMS 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 OriginalFiled Aug. 5, 1947 y 1958 1. F. MATTHYSSE ET AL 2,836,138

MACHINE FOR BRAZING SEAMS Original Filed Aug. 5, 1947 5 Sheets-Sheet 4INVENTORS y 7, 1958 I. F. MATTHYssE ET AL 2,836,138

MACHINE FOR BRAZING SEAMS Original Filed Aug. 5, 1947 5 Sheets-Sheet 5INVENTORS C wpe 5 KIA-A11 A United States Patent MACHINE FGR BRAZENGSEAMS Irving F. Matthysse, Norwalk, and Christian V. Pellier, Westport,Conn., assignors to Burndy Engineering Co. Inc., a corporation of NewYork Original application August 5, 1947, Serial No. 7156,156,

now Patent No. 2,643,446, dated June as, 1953. 131- vided and thisapplication April 15, 1953, Serial No. 349,284

4 Claims. (Cl. 113-4) Our invention relates to the automatic productionof brazed sheet-metal tubes to be used in place of seamless tubing, andis a divisional application of our parent case entitled Method and Meansfor Brazing Seams, Serial No. 766,150 filed August 5, 1947, now PatentNo. 2,643,446, issued June 30, 1953.

Seamless tubing may be utlized in various fields, an example being theelectrical connector art. Wire terminals formed from copper tubing arelimited in the variety of flat contact tongue shapes to those which maybe formed from the tubing by flattening. For this reason it is desirableto form such terminals from flat sheet metal which has the additionaladvantage of lower cost per pound of material.

One method of utilizing sheet metal is to form the sheet into a tubularbarrel having a longitudinal seam.

To prevent this seam from opening upon indenting the barrel to grip thewire, one means employed is to place a small cylinder of metal over thisbarrel. This method is costly and adds to the bulk of the terminal.Another method is to braze the seam by the use of standard brazingalloys such as silver solder. it has been found that properly brazedseams are strong enough to receive an indentation directly into the seamwithout splitting.

A common method for brazing such a seam is to heat the objectsufficiently to melt the brazing material and then touch the brazingmaterial, usually in the form of a rod, to the seam, until a sufficientquantity melts and brazing material into the seam of the barrel of aterminal during the forming of the terminal in progressive dies or thelike.

The barrels of the terminals, having brazing material inserted in theseams, must be heated to flow the brazing material to form a bond acrossthe seam. For this purpose the terminals may be taken in bulk and placedin an oven, but this is an additional handling operation and one havingthe danger that the handling may cause some terminals to lose theirbrazing material. It is a further object of this invention to provide ameans for automatically heating the barrels of these terminals after theinsertion of the brazing material during, or immediately after theforming of the terminals in a progressive die or the like, Without aseparate handling operation.

For some applications, it is desirable for the contact tongue of aterminal to be of hard metal for rigidity or resilience or both. If sucha terminal is formed from hard sheet metal and the seam in the barrel isbrazed, the heat of brazing will tend to soften or anneal the contacttongue thus destroying its resilience.

A still further object of this invention consists in providing a methodwhereby the barrel of a terminal, formed from relatively hard sheetmetal, may be brazed without any appreciable annealing of the metal ofthe contact tongue. It is an additional object of this invention toprovide a means for automatically heating the barrels of terminals afterthe automatic insertion of brazing material in the seams of the barrels,during or after the forming of the terminals in a progressive die or thelike, without a separate handling operation and without any appreciableannealing of the contact tongues of the terminals.

Another object of the invention is to provide automatic cooling means inthe progressive die or the like to keep the tongues of the terminalsrelatively cool while the barrels are being heated for brazing andthereby preventing annealing of the tongues. Another object is toprovide means for heating the barrel of the terminal so rapidly that thebrazing is completed before suflicient heat is conducted into the tongueof the terminal to cause annealing.

We accomplish these and other objects and obtain our new results aswillbe apparent from the device and methods described in the followingspecification, particularly pointed out in the attached claims, andillustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which- Fig. 1 is a plan viewof a sheet metal strip illustrating the various operations which may beperformed upon it during the process of its manufacture into electricalconnectors.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the same taken in the plane 22 of Fig. l with some of the blanking and forming dies shown incross-section.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the connector barrel'portiontaken in the plane 33 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a similar view taken just before the die forming operation.

Fig. 5 is an end view of the cross-feed mechanism for inserting a stripof brazing material into the tubular portion of the terminal barrel.

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the same, partly in section taken throughthe plane 6-6 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view of the cross-feed mechanism taken through theplane 77 of Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a sectional view of the cross-feed slide which may be employedto operate the cross-feed mechanism taken through the plane 88 of Fig.6.

Fig. 9 is a top plan View of the heating and cooling mechanism for theterminal barrel and tongue, respectively.

Fig. 10 is a sectional view of the same taken through 10-10 of Fig. 9.

General descripzion of operations A strip of sheet metal, from which itis desired to produce the brazed tubular structure, for example, theelectrical terminals illustrated, is fed into progressive dies, orsimilarly functioning apparatus. A number of blanking, piercing, andforming operations may be performed on the sheet metal as itintermittently moves from one station of operation to another, in thedies. The terminals usually remain attached to the sheet metal stripduring these operations and are severed from it when the operations arecompleted.

Sometimes, it may be desirable to sever the terminals from the sheetmetal strip before all operations have been completed. In such instancesother means must be employed to carry the terminals to the successiveoperating stations.

The brazing material in the form of a thin, narrow strip isautomatically inserted into the seam of the tubular barrel of theterminal during the formation of the barrel and specifically at theclosing of the seam.

' barrier to the direct heat of the flame.

This may be accomplished by feeding the. brazing material into theprogressive die on a cross-feed mechanism adjusted to insert the desiredlength each time a terminal is in position. After'inserting the properlength of brazingmaterial, a die is applied to the barrel, closing theseam thereby pinching the brazing material. in position. The brazingmaterial is then severed from the strip. Thereafter the terminal may becarried along to succeeding' stations in the progressive die whereadditional forming, piercing and blanking operations may take place tocomplete the terminal. V

The terminals with the brazing material held squarely in their seams arecarried by suitableautomatic means to positions .where heat is'appliedto their barrels to melt andflow the brazing material. After theterminals are carried beyond this heating station they cool and thebrazing materialhardens forming a strong bond across the seams. The heatmay be applied by'a flame from an acetylene torch, by induction heating,or other. means; The heating of the terminal to melt the brazingmaterial may anneal the tubular barrel of the terminal, which isdesirable for indentingor crimping to grip the wire. How- V over, otherparts of the terminal or connector may also become annealed and this 'issometimes undesirable. We

have devised metal jaws, which may be water-cooled which engage thesurfaces of the tongue portion of the connector keeping the temperatureof the tongue portion V below the annealingpoint. ,The jaws furtheract'as a These jaws do not have to grip firmly, but may allow'theterminals to slide between them as they pass on to successive stations.

The heat may be applied at a sufliciently high tempera ture and forsuch'a short period of time as to cause 7 the brazing material to melt,without allowing much heat while it is. still attached to the strip fromwhich it is formed since it is thereby accurately located for applyingthe heatand it becomes relatively simple to pass it between coolingjaws. The terminals are: then carried beyond the heating station toenable them to cool and the brazing material to harden forming a'strongbond across the seams. A'stamping operation then separates them from thesheet metal strip.

' Detailed description 7 I In Fig. 1, reference numeral 10 designatesthe sheet metal strip. 'A blanking die 11 partially shapes the fiat bodysection 12 and the tongue section 13 while the punch 11a forms theterminal aperture 14 in the tongue.

As the strip advances, the two longitudinal edges of the body sectionare chamfered as at 12a and 12b for apurpose hereinafter explained.Thereafter, the body section the upstroke of the press, the thrust Vonpin 2'1 islre r r 4 horizontal cross-slide mechanism 24, connected tothe feed mechanism 25 by a ferk 25 on the slide, engaging the thrust pin2'7 on the feed mechanism. a

The feed mechanism 25 is made up of a main carriage.

V terminal, which cu -off contains moving blade operating on fixed blade36. At the rear'of the, main carriage is the jamming ball brake 37 whichlocks on thebackward movement, of the main carriage with theribbon'strip 19 made of brazing material fed from an ordinary stripfeeding apparatus 38 of which the illustrated spring loaded arm 39 is apart. r The forward thrust imparted to the thrust pin27 first causes thefeed lever plate 49 of 'thefeed gripping mechanism 32, horizontallypivoted at 41,, to operate and pinch the strip 19 between the anvil42,also mounted on the feed gripping mechanism, and the jaw 43 of the feedle ver plate. The feed gripping mechanism, with the strip, beingfrictionally locked to the main carriage advances with the overhangingcut-on 34, until the main carriage with cut-olf 34encounters the forwardstop 29. The frictional lock 331is then. overcome, and the feed grippingmechanism with thestrip 19 continues to advance under the impartedthrust, projecting the end of the strip a pre-determined distance beyondthe now stationary cut off 34. V 7V Cut-off cam '23 positioned above thecut-off in position, operates oh the cam-surface 34a of moving cutoffblade 35, forcing it horizontally toiseverthe "section inserted into theconnector from the main strip 19. On

versed in direction and the feed; lever plate first opens to release thestrip 38, and 'as thefeed-grippingmecha' nism" is carried backward, withthe main carriage,.b'all brake. 37 locks to the strip19, carrying itbackward with thecut-o1f34; f

Upon encountering the backward stop 30, the frictional V lock 33releases the main carriage and the feed-gripping is dish-shaped incross-section as at 12c in Fig. 2, to'facilitate the subsequentformation of the U-shaped barrel portion 15 as shown in the next stage,wherein the two chamfered edges 12a and 12b are brought intojuxtaposition, forming a slot 16. a

Thus the barrel 15 with opened slot 16 is advanced by the strip 10 intothe final forming stage illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, wherein formingdies 17. and 18 close the barrel about a strip of brazing material 19inserted into the slot 16 and gripped by the chamfered edges 12a and and12b, shown in Fig. 3. The position of the barrel 15 and material 19 justprior to the full rounding opera tion of the-dies 17 and 18, is shown inFig. 4.

' A sectional view of the mechanism at this point is illustrated in Fig-7, wherein reference numeral 20 designates the upper movable die shoeand 21 the lower stationary die shoe. V Cross-slide cam-22and'brazin'g'rnatemechanism withdraws until the .end of the movement ofpin; 27 is reached. The mechanism for advancing the sheet metal strip 10is a standard stockfeed, notshown;

and themovement of the strip 10 occurs after the projccting cut-off hasbeen withdrawn. I V The cross-slide cam 22 and slide mechanism'24'.shown in detail in Fig. .8. The cross-slide cam 22 has upper verticaldwell surfaces 45, oblique forward and backward camming surfaces 46 and47, respectively, and lower vertical dwell surfaces 48. a. i

The horizontal cross-slide mechanism 24 comprises the statiouary'frame49'mountedlon. thelower die shoe 21, the moving cross-slide member 50slidably mounted in the frame 49, both apertured at 51 and52,respectively, to receive the extending. cam 22. The slide member hasforward and'rearward oblique camming surfaces 55 and 56 forward insidethe aperture 51. V

On the' upstroke of the press, the dwell 45 of the cam permits variousoperations to take place, such as clearingcut-off cam 23 from thecut-off. As cam surface 47 engages cam surface 56, the sliding member towhich fork 26is secured, begins to withdraw pin 27 extending opens thejaw 43 of the plate from thejanvil 42, allowing the feed grippingmechanism, carrying strip 19, to start its: backward motion carrying themain carriagev 28 with it, withdrawing the overhanging cut-'ofi '34 fromits position adjacent to the barrel 15, and immediately above theterminal tongue 13. .Thus the workstrip 10 may be lifted during thisperiod and its position advanced one station.

At the moment, the main carriage starts its backward motion, the jammingball brake 37 engages the brazing strip 19 carrying it backward with thecarriage, until the main carriage engages the backstop 30, unlocking thefriction lock 33, permitting the feed mechanism 32 to reach its fullyretracted position, as determined by adjustable stop 32a.

Upon the downstroke, and immediately after the dwell 48 has completedits movement, the cam surface 46 engages the cam surfaces 55 of theslide member 50 causing pin 27 to reverse its thrust locking the strip19 between anvil 42 and jaw 43, moving the strip, feed grippingmechanism and main carriage forward until the forward stop 29 is reachedwhich unlocks the main carriage at which time the overhanging cut-offhas reached its forward position adjacent the opening of the barrel 15.The forward thrust continues, and carries the feed gripping mechanismwith the brazing material strip with it, projecting it beyond thecut-off mechanism a distance equal to the remaining movement of thethrust pin 27, which by various adjustments hereinafter explained is thedistance the strip is projected into the barrel of the connector.

As the strip reaches its final position, the U-shaped tool 17 attachedto the movable die shoe engages the barrel, moves towards die 18,causing the two edges 12a and 12b of the barrel to engage the strip 19therebetween and pinch it in position, while the barrel is finallyshaped.

As the dwell 45 is reached, the press continues its downward movementwithout forward movement of the feed mechanism, thus allowing thecut-01f cam 23 to operate the cut-off of the strip severing thepinched-01f section from the strip 19.

By means of the adjustable forward stop 29, the ultimate forwardposition of the cut-off is controlled, thus allowing the barrel to bechanged in position. The backward stop controls the withdrawn positionof the cutoif to allow for adjustments in the position of the sheetmetal strip 10.

Since the feed gripping mechanism and the main carriage move a totalforward distance substantially equal to the movement of the cross-slide50, the amount of strip brazing material fed beyond the cut-01f isdetermined by the total forward movement of the cross-slide 50, less thedistance the main carriage carrying the cutofi is moved before itreaches the forward stop. This may be varied by adjusting the positionof the crossslide and associated cam parts which are made adjustable forthis purpose.

Modifications in the position of the barrel, the forward and backwardpositions of the cut-oif and the length of feed are thus controlled, asaforesaid.

When the final shape of the barrel 15 is completed and the sheet metalstrip 10 is advanced, the heating operation takes place which melts thebrazing material in position filling the seam.

This operation is shown in Figs. 9 and 10 and comprises advancing theterminal tongue portion 13 between springy separated cooling jaws 65 and66, allowing the barrel portion 15 to project clear therefrom andpositioned in a downwardly directed heat, which in the instantconstruction consists of an oxygen-acetylene torch 67 ignited by theelectrode 68. The downwardly directed heat is controlled by the airblast 69.

The upward movement of the cooling jaw 65 is controlled by the spring70. Its downward movement is eifected by the rocker arm 71 pivoted at 72which is controlled by the rotary cam 73 synchronized with the movementof the sheet metal strip 10. Thus after the terminal tongue is movedinto position between the opened jaws, the rotary cam 73 is actuated tocompress the jaws into sliding contact with the terminal tongue. Thejaws are kept cool by means of water inlet pipes 75 and 76 entering therear of jaws 65 and 66, respectively, and outlet pipes 77 and 78allowing the water to exit, permitting the cool water to circulate inthe hollow chambers 79 and 80, respectively, before being withdrawn.Water cooled coils 81 may be provided in the die shoe and heatinsulating barriers 82 may be employed to contain the heat generatedwithin the desired confines.

Thus jaws may be of the non-moving type spaced apart sufliciently toallow the sheet metal strip 10 containing the tongue sections, to enter,so that the cooling eifect is obtained. The jaws may not even be cooled,but simply act as barriers for the flame of the torch to prevent theflame from reaching the tongue sections. Moreover, the jaws may have aconsiderable width covering tongue sections of terminals not beingsubjected to the flame. The conduction of the heat away from the tonguesection is thus accomplished to prevent the annealing efiect of theheat.

The barrel of the terminal remains under the flame for a very shortperiod. A very hot flame is used to heat the barrel very rapidly, andthe terminal is quickly moved away. Thus the barrel remains under thehot flame only long enough to flow the brazing material and in thatshort time a minimum of heat is conducted back into the tongue. Inaddition to cooling the jaws which grip the tongue, the circulatingwater prevents heat from the flame from heating the adjacent die partsexcessively.

After the heating stage the terminal may continue on to other positionswhere additional operations are performed. The final operation is thecut-off shown in Fig. 1 wherein the die 11b frees the terminal from thestrip if this operation has not already been performed and the terminalis then ready for any surface treatment or plating that is desired.

In the foregoing, we have described the essential elements of a pressfor obtaining the brazing of two adjacent edges of metal forming a seam.By our method, the brazing material is automatically fed into the seam,the adjacent edges of the seam closed to hold the brazing materialfirmly in position, the brazing material severed, and the seamed objectcontaining the pinched brazing material automatically moved to a heatingposition where the seam is brazed.

The press may be additionally provided with means for continuouslycooling the die parts supporting the brazed object, as well as parts ofthe object which it is desired to prevent heating to brazingtemperatures. In addition, the flame is prevented by barriers fromreaching surfaces not intended to be heated.

We have thus described out invention, but we desire it understood thatit is not confined to the particular forms or uses shown and described,the same being merely illustrative, and that the invention may becarried out in other ways without departing from the spirit of ourinvention, and, therefore, we claim broadly the right to employ allequivalent instrumentalities coming within the scope of the appendedclaims, and by means of which objects of our invention are attained andnew results accomplished, as it is obvious that the particularembodiments here shown and described are only some of the many that canbe employed to attain these objects and accomplish these results.

We claim:

1. A machine for manufacturing brazed articles having a tubular body anda non-tubular body and a non-tubular portion from a piece of sheet metalwhich comprises a press having blanking and forming dies positionedtherein for stamping the articles and rounding the sheet metal to formthe tubular body containing an open slot of predetermined length, meanson said press for moving the stamped articles from the blanking to theforming dies, means on said press to support brazing material in aninserting position; said forming dies positioned away from said blankingdies in the direction the stamped articles are moved and between saidblanking dies and j 7 the brazing supportingmeans, means on said pressto move the tubular body fromthe'forming die-to an inserting positionadjacent 'thehrazing material; :said supporting means-having a feedmechanism to feed a predetermined length of flat sided ribbon made ofbrazing material in a longitudinal direction between the adjacent edgesof the slot; compression means on said press movable ,in'the insertingposition of the tubular body to close the entire slot simultaneously-throughout its" length until the ribbon is pinched'on its flat sidesand supported therein; means'on said press to move the article away fromthe inserting position to permit another article to be moved intoposition, said brazing material inserting means so positioned andconstructed that the brazing ma terial is fed and supported while theclosing means is actuated. 7

2. The machine of claim 1, wherein the press is provided with means for'transportingthe tubular body with the pinched brazing material'to aheating and cooling mechanism positioned on the press'to enable thetubular body to be heated and the non-tubular portion of the article tobe simultaneously cooled.

3. The machine of claim-1, wherein thebrazing material is inserted intothe tubular body at a predetermined level, and the compression meansforce that portion of 1 5 8 the tubularbody adjacent the slot andsimultaneously throughout its length towards the level of brazingmaterial causing the brazing material to be -gripped-by the tubularbody, atthe predetermined levelof the brazin'g material. I

H4 The machine of claim-1, provided with means for chamfering the twolongitudinal edges of the fiat sheet metal extending downwardly andoutwardly of the free edge of the body.- a 7 References Cited in thefile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Altman e June 29,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No,2,836,138

Irving F. Mattbysse eo als May 27, 1958 It is hereby certified thaterror appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patentrequiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read ascorrected below.

Column 6, line 65, claim 1, after "body", first occurrence, strike out"and a vl'zon tlloul.e11- bodyk Signed and sealed this 14th day ofOctober 1958,

(SEAL) Attest:

KARL AXLINE ROBERT C. WATSON Attesting Oflicer Commissioner of Patents

